


A Lady and Her Hatter

by xikra1648



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, BFF Emma Swan, BFF Ruby, BFF Snow White, Because Grace is a sweetheart, Canonical Character Death, Drama & Romance, F/M, Family, Fantasy, Feels, Fluff, Grace's Mother OC, Humor, Mild Gore, Parenthood, Sexual Tension, Single Parents, and Jefferson is a kicked puppy, and deserves a happy ending, and deserves a mother
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-12 10:19:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7098712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xikra1648/pseuds/xikra1648
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Triss had been a well-behaved Lady her entire life, despite all her lessons in swordplay, archery, and most importantly magic.  That all changed when she was the victim of an arranged marriage.  She wouldn't have felt a victim had her marriage been a normal one, however she was the latest in a long line of wives to go missing in only five years.  Luckily for her, her brother knew a hatter that could get her to safety.</p>
<p>Years ago Lily and Ruby would find themselves at a party every night and stumble into work hungover and tired.  That was before Lily got pregnant.  The day Paige was born Lily gave it all up, working her way through college to land a job in the local prosecutor's office, where she met Sheriff Graham.  She was happy, with her daughter and her boyfriend, but when Paige asked who her father was Lily didn't even know where to begin to explain that she had no idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In the interest of full disclosure I got the idea of using the story of Bluebeard from another fanfiction on Lunaescence. I can't remember the title or the author and I'm soooo sorry about that, but it was such a brilliant idea it made all of my other ideas look like crap. It was also a good explanation how a noble lady ended up working as a, well, thief. In the interest of more disclosure, this will probably be the product of very sporadic updates.

#  Chapter One 

It all started many years ago, when Snow was a young girl and her mother was still alive. Little Snow had become close to the daughter of a local Lord, the young Lady Triss who had buried herself in magical studies at a young age. She had been born with a magical gift that not even Lady Cora or the Dark One could match but that was kept a closely guarded secret within the family.

Young snow was sitting on Triss’s lap as she made a crown out of flowers she picked in the garden and Triss gently tied the young princess’s hair into an ornate bun. Snow turned and placed the crown of lilies on Triss’s head, the white flowers contrasting perfectly with her long sandy blond locks and green eyes.

“Now you’re a princess too,” Snow smiled cheerfully at her friend.

Triss returned the princess’s smile and replied, “Yes, but you’re still the fairest of them all.”

Snow was about to respond to the contrary, she had always looked up to Triss even long after Triss had disappeared. She was so strong, trained in swordplay and archery, and smart, studied in magic and politics, and beautiful. The Queen interrupted them, gently, ushering Snow away and telling Triss to speak with the King and her father in the King’s study. Triss walked elegantly in the halls, her long forest green gown adding to the effect that she was gliding across the floor. She knocked on the door before cracking it open to see her father and the King speaking.

“Come in child, have a seat,” the king called her in. That was when Triss knew something was wrong. The king only told people to take a seat while calling them inside if something was wrong. She didn’t say anything, instead she just gracefully walked into the study and sat across from the king and next to her father.

“You are aware that as a Lady you might be called into an arranged marriage for the greater good. Such a time has come…” the King was struggling, and the way that her father couldn’t look at her…

“If I may ask, your highness, who am I to marry?”

“The Lord Bluebeard…”

Triss knew exactly why they were so distraught. In the past five years Bluebeard had exactly five wives and every single one had gone missing under mysterious circumstances. To make matters worse Lord Bluebeard’s estate was far away, and it would take weeks, over a month even, for her father’s men or even the king’s men to reach her if something was amiss. She would be entirely on her own, and she doubted the king would have made this decision if he had any other way to prevent Lord Bluebeard from turning violent. Despite knowing all of this, she didn’t act distraught. She remained poised and composed, as a lady should.

“I shall begin the wedding preparations with mother and the queen at once. I look forward to meeting my betrothed.” Triss kept her hands folded neatly in her lap as she smiled at the king and her father. Perhaps it would have been better had she acted distraught, the king could no longer hide his sadness at the turn of events and her father actively wept.

The wedding was only a month after the announcement, and despite the little time they had to plan the wedding was beautiful. It was in Triss’s family garden surrounded by the jasmine and white lilies, and vanilla flowers that had given her so much comfort throughout her childhood. If only she could take them to the shore and braid them into crowns and bouquets like she did as a child.

Triss’s waist-length blond waves were tied up into an elegant, braided bun and her makeup made her green eyes sparkle and her porcelain complexion glow. Her dress fell off her shoulders and accentuated the lithe hourglass form that had caught Bluebeard’s attention in the first place. He couldn’t admire her rear and legs through the ball gown of her wedding dress but he would see it soon enough.

Triss gazed at the audience and noticed her brother, Jon, wasn’t there. He was admittedly an illegitimate child but they had been close growing up. She had hoped he would be there instead of out at sea. She had heard Lord Bluebeard’s estate was on the sea, perhaps her brother would be close. She would be sure to write to him when they arrived at the estate. There was no time for a celebration as Lord Bluebeard had to leave for business the next morning, so after the ceremony Triss watched with dutiful green eyes as she left the safety of her home behind.

Years later Triss would admit that Lord Bluebeard’s estate thoroughly terrified her. It was entirely made of dark stone, the only windows were high and out of reach and there was barely any lighting. It was scantly decorated and the decorations that were there consisted of Lord Bluebeard’s sigil and weapons. She never mentioned it in her letters, not even to the letters to her brother Jon with whom she had always been entirely honest. The only thing that gave her comfort was sitting on the shore and reading one of the many books she had brought with her to the estate. Lord Bluebeard never seemed to mind that she would sit on the shore and read all day. What she really wanted to do was practice her swordplay or archery, and especially her magic, but she couldn’t.

When the Queen died Triss wanted nothing more than to leave the estate to be by Snow’s side, but her husband absolutely forbade it. Instead he would go for the both of them, for two weeks. He left her with the key to the only room in the castle Triss had never entered, and never had any desire to. Except Bluebeard gave her the only key.

“Hold this key for me my wife, and swear to me that you will never enter this room. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my husband, I understand.”

The most surefire way to get Triss to do something was to tell her that she couldn’t do it, which is why only hours after Bluebeard left she unlocked the room and looked inside-and instantly wished she hadn’t.

The dried, preserved heads of his wives lined a shelf on the far wall as clearly as the blood stains covered the entire room. There were chains to hold a person to the floor, from the ceiling, blades of all shapes and sizes were neatly hung from the wall and placed on a wooden table against the wall. Another table was covered with blood, there was a hole in the center and what she could only assume were the…leftovers of Bluebeards ‘missing’ wives on the table.

“Oh spirits…it’s worse than we feared…” Triss whispered to herself. She stepped inside to investigate further, starting with the blades. She touched one and without fail they all fell. She would have attempted to pick them up, but she heard the steps of the roaming patrol. She shut the door and locked it before walking down the hall to the library, a trip she made daily and would not raise suspicion among the guards. She didn’t know who else to wrote, so she wrote to her brother Jon.

“Sir, you must get this to my brother immediately. I just learned his wife is with child and I swore I would write him for her,” Triss acted panicked, yet happily excited, to sell the part. The guard smiled and nodded before taking the letter directly to the docks. It would only be a matter of days until the letter reached Jon at his home. Triss began to pack her things, only the essentials. She knew she would be on the run from the second Jon arrived. That was how it had to be until Jon could either kill Lord Bluebeard, convince the King to investigate the estate, or both.

The letter barely reached Jon in time, he arrived only hours before Bluebeard. Triss had been sitting on the beach reading, as always, and waiting when she saw the ship. She heard Bluebeard’s angry shouts as he approached Triss. She looked back and saw her husband approaching and got up, throwing her book to the side as she took off at a sprint to the docks.

“Jon!” Triss cried, reaching her brother on his ship, “He’s coming, with his men!”

“It’s alright, Triss, you’ve been so brave and have done more than enough. I’ll take care of it from here, you go down below deck. There’s a hatter waiting for you, he’ll take you far away from her.”

“A hatter?” Triss had to question, “Have you gone as mad as one?”

“He’s not really…you’ll understand when you meet him. I’ve worked with him before and I trust him, now go!” Jon pushed Triss to the steps leading below deck before drawing his sword. Triss picked up the front of her deep blue gown as she ran down the steps and searched for the hatter. She found him, at the far end, leaning back in a chair with his hat tilted down to cover his eyes and his arms crossed.

“Unbelievable,” Triss muttered before snatching the man’s hat off of his head, she wasn’t surprised when she saw that his dark hair was an absolute mess, “I hate to interrupt your nap but I believe you’ve been hired for a job? One that involves getting me out alive, as I’ve been told.”

“I was just waiting for you,” he replied casually as he got up, “I take it you’re the Lady Triss, a damsel in distress.”

“You’ll be in distress if you don’t shut up and get me out of here,” Triss snapped. She was done being the well-behaved lady. She had played that part and it had nearly gotten her killed, and could get her other brother killed now. It had completely ruined her life, the lives of everyone in her family, and who knows how many other lives with that. She was done pretending to be someone she wasn’t.

“Alright, alright. Just give me my hat and we can leave,” the hatter held his hand out for his top hat, the casual smirk still on his face and a mischievous spark in his blue eyes. Triss narrowed her own green eyes at the hatter but handed him his hat all the same. He tossed the hat down with a spin and Triss could feel the magic as a portal opened to hell knows where. To be honest, she didn’t really care as long as it was away from Bluebeard. The hatter, who was irritatingly charming, held his hand out.

“The name is Jefferson, by the way.”

Triss took his hand and snapped, “Just get me out of here.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily continues her busy life as a single mother and government official in Storybrooke, with the help of her adoring boyfriend. Jefferson watches from a distance as his family lives without him, and he hates himself for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, heavy Jefferson feels.

# Chapter Two

Working in a small town didn’t make Lily’s job as a prosecutor any easier. Instead of arguing it out in a court room she normally spent her days playing both prosecution and defense in trying to get defendants the best deal and still make sure justice was done. The local District Attorney was ruthless and would throw everyone in prison for the rest of their lives just for littering, if he could. To top it off, Lily was the only one brave enough to stand up against him, even though he was her boss.

Lily was looking over the files in the Sheriff’s office, standing in front of the filing cabinet as she read. Her sandy blond hair, which normally fell to her breast, was tied up into a neat bun with a black pen tucked away when it wasn’t in use. Her green eyes, lined elegantly in black eyeliner and mascara with the faintest dusting of nude eyeshadow, narrowed as she scrutinized the words on the page carefully. She bit her bottom lip as she thought, quietly tapping one of her black heel clad feet as she thought.

Her lips quirked up in a smile when she felt two strong arms wrap around her thin waist and she caught a familiar scent of pine trees and sandalwood. Graham nudged the collar of Lily’s forest green silk blouse to inhale her trademark perfume; lilies, vanilla, jasmine, and the sea. If it weren’t for the town drunk snoozing in one of the nearby cells he’d spin her around, pull up her black pencil skirt, and have his mad way with her on the desk just because of her scent alone. Though the way she lightly played with his hair made him seriously consider it anyway.

“I was thinking I could make dinner for the three of us tonight. I’ll even do the dishes,” Graham offered, making Lily’s small smile grow.

“The way you’re offering to cook and clean makes it sound like you’re begging for sex,” Lily teased as she played with her lover’s hair.

“Can you blame me?” Graham smirked against Lily’s neck, “As I recall you enjoy the activity just as much as I do.”

“I enjoy it a bit more when we don’t have to worry about waking up Paige,” Lily countered.

“It’s not my fault you’re noisy.” Graham placed a playful kiss against Lily’s neck, “She won’t wake up. I promise.”

“Hmm…” Lily sighed dramatically, “Alright, I’ll let you treat us to dinner.”

 

Jefferson wished he had simply died in Wonderland had simply killed him, for watching his wife and daughter with this other man was a torture far worse than death. It was painful enough knowing what Triss had done to save him and that he had abandoned their daughter, but this was too much. Watching Triss smile and laugh with another man, watching Grace looking up to another man as her father figure. Watching Grace kiss her mother and that damn hunter goodnight, then watching as that same hunter kissed Triss, his Triss, passionately as he led her into the-

Jefferson let out an angry cry as he broke himself away from the telescope, knocking it down in anger. He placed his hands on the sides of the window, leaning against it as he shook, taking deep breaths. He wanted nothing more than to act out, but he kept hearing Triss’s voice in his head.

_“Breath, hatter, breath. You need to calm down before you go completely mad,” she would tease him as she stole his hat and placed it on her own head, a coy smile on those soft pink lips and a playful sparkle in her deep green eyes. She would laugh as she played a game of ‘keep away’ with his hat until he himself would laugh and that intoxicating scent of hers, a mixture of jasmine, vanilla, white lilies, and the sea, would be left behind on his hat for the rest of the day._

He squeezed his eyes blue eyes shut to try to block the bittersweet memories from his mind. Pushing himself away from the window and running a shaking hand through his shorter, but still messy, dark hair as he turned back to his work. He had to recreate the hat, he had to get the three of them back to the Enchanted Forest. It was the only way to make his family whole again. He had to save them from this curse.

Maybe then they could begin to forgive him, because he doubted he could ever forgive himself.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily's dreams are becoming more and more ridiculous as she overhears Henry and Paige reading Henry's storybook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For future reference I'll probably be writing a lot more about Triss and Jefferson back in Wonderland and the Enchanted Forest for a while with a few little snippets of what they're going through in Storybrooke. This is mostly because it's a hell of a lot more fun to write about them running through Wonderland but there's a plot-related reason for it too, I promise.

# Chapter Three

This was…remarkable. Triss had read about portal hopping in her magical studies but she had never actually witnessed it in person. From what she read portals simply connected one world to another but this…this was far more advanced than that.

“Your hat isn’t just a portal, it’s a crossroads…” Triss stepped away from the portal jumper and spun on her heel as she observed the incredible discovery, “I didn’t even know things like this existed…this is unbelievable.”

“You know, until we go through a door anybody could follow us through the hat,” Jefferson pointed out, “So pick a door and let’s get going.”

“You can close the portal behind you and bring the hat through?”

“Assuming there’s magic on the other side of the door, yeah. If not, it gets a little more complicated. So, just pick a door and we can go.”Triss shot a glare at her rescuer before picking a rather alluring door. She couldn’t help it, it looked the most like a normal door except for one little thing. The doorknob had a face. She reached out and gently turned the doorknob, which was snoring, and pulled the door open. Her jaw dropped as she stepped into the strange world. Jefferson rolled his eyes. Yes, yes, it was amazing and she had never been to a different world before but they didn’t exactly have time for tourism. The lady had said it herself when she so rudely woke him up, though he’d never admit he was actually napping when she arrived, they had to get going. Her life, and his fairly hefty payment of gold, were on the line. He shook his head and placed his hand on the small of her back to push her through the door, shutting the door and the portal behind them. He grabbed his hat from the ground and flipped it onto his head with a practiced flair.

Triss was in awe at the world around her. There were Tiger Lilies taller than her, taller than anyone she had ever met before, even the grass towered over their heads. Further down the path there was a giant caterpillar. She walked closer to investigate the caterpillar but she felt Jefferson’s hand at the small of her back leading her away.

“Let’s not bother the caterpillar. He smokes a lot and thinks everyone is destined for greatness,” Jefferson explained as he led the overly curious lady through what he easily considered to be the most dangerous world: Wonderland, “We have a portal to find.”

“Couldn’t we just use the door?”

“The door only works if the hat is on the other side and even if it were we’d end up right back on that ship. We need to find the Looking Glass, we’ll hop that portal back home. Last I checked the other end was in the Enchanted Forest, somewhere.”

“Last you checked? What happens if it’s in a giant’s house?” Triss stared with wide green eyes.

“Then we sneak past the giant and start running if he says ‘Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum.’” Jefferson retorted, “Now let’s go, I want to get out of here before we get invited to tea.”

“Tea?” Triss retorted, inwardly terrified at how quickly she was getting used to the Hatter's particular brand of madness, “What’s so bad about tea?”

“It’s not the tea, it’s who it’s with. That rabbit is out of his damn mind.”

 

Lily woke with a groan; she had been having bizarre dreams every night for a week but they were officially getting crazy. Why was she dreaming about Wonderland? She blamed the book Paige and Henry had been so deeply invested in. Paige was absolutely in love with a story about a Lady running from her murderous husband with the help of a thief that could travel to different worlds through portals. She hadn’t gotten to the end yet, but as the two children explored the story Lily’s dreams became more and more crazed.

Last night was…different, however. Henry hadn’t visited that night, in fact Regina had called late last night in a fit about how Henry had run away to find his biological mother. To top it off, even if ‘Lady Triss’ and ‘Jefferson’ had gone to Wonderland in the story, Lily didn’t know anything about it, and when did she start seeing everything as if she was ‘Lady Triss’?

Lily rolled over to look at the time. She woke up late. She barely had enough time to get Paige up, fed, dressed, and out the door for school.

“Mom?” Paige poked her head into her mother’s bedroom, already awake. Lily couldn’t help but be jealous at how well behaved Paige was, Lily had never been that well behaved growing up. Of course, if she had been she would have Paige in the first place so Lily would hug her daughter and be glad she was so rambunctious when she was young.

“I’m sorry honey,” Lily yawned as she sat up, “I overslept. I’ve been having dreams about that story you’ve been reading.”

Paige grinned excitedly, “Me too, you were in it, and so was dad.”

Paige meant it innocently, but as Lily got out of bed she couldn’t help but feel guilty. She knew Paige didn’t know who her father was. It was kind of hard considering Lily didn’t even know who he was. She knew he was tall and she remembered dark messy hair and a sly smirk that made her so angry when she first saw it, but beyond that she couldn’t remember anything. Damn Swedish Fish shots…tasted just like the candy and Lily kept doing them until she couldn’t remember her own name. Hell, for all she knew the name 'Triss' was sticking in her head because that was the name she gave to Paige's biological father.

Lily didn’t let her smile falter and instead walked with Page to the kitchen, “Was he now?”

“Yeah, he was a portal jumper, like the hatter, but he got stuck on the other side of a portal…” Paige looked down at her cereal sadly, knowing that the fantasy was far better than the truth. She was a smart girl and while Lily never told her the specifics of why it was unlikely her father would come into her life, Paige knew that if he wasn’t back by now it was likely he ever would be. Paige loved Graham but she wanted her own father, something Lily could understand. Lily’s father had been her hero growing up, more so than her overly critical mother. Lily kissed her daughter’s head and smoothed down her brunette bed-head.

“Come on honey, I’m sure Henry will be excited to keep reading that book today,” Lily offered with a smile. Paige looked up at her mother with big green eyes and nodded with an excited smile of her own. After dropping Paige off at school, with a kiss goodbye, Lily left to get breakfast at the diner. Getting ready wasn’t nearly as easy for her as it was for Paige, and she had to skip breakfast in order to have time to tame her bed ridden hair and abstain from poking herself in the eye with her eyeliner.

“Hey there stranger,” Ruby greeted her best friend, “The usual?”

“Please, with extra bacon,” Lily requested, placing her chin in her hand without even bothering to look at the menu.

“Extra bacon?” Ruby raised a thin dark eyebrow as she put the order in with the kitchen and poured Lily a cup of coffee, “You know, most people just drink when they have a bad day?”

“Tried that, ended up with the perfect daughter who wants nothing but the father that her mother can’t even remember,” Lily replied as she cupped her coffee mug with both hands and sipped at the hot liquid love.

“Ouch, she ask about him?”

“Worse, she had a dream where we were all together as a family.”

“Ooh…” Ruby grabbed a cup of chocolate pudding topped with strawberries from the fridge behind the counter and served it to Lily, “Here, on the house.”

“Won’t Grannie serve you your own head for this?”

“Giving you free food to deal with the struggles of single motherhood is the one thing she’s okay with,” Ruby replied, “And if not you can still start crying on command, right?”

Lily snorted, “Please, I’m a mother. That’s like a mother’s ultimate weapon.”

Ruby tossed her head back as she laughed and left to serve the other customers.

 

“Why did you let me pick the door?” Triss snapped as they ran from the Bandersnatch.

“I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to wake up the Bandersnatch!” Jefferson snapped back as he led her through the maze of tall grass and taller flowers, “Through here! And hurry up!”

“I’m going as fast as I can! And what in the fuck is a Bandersnatch?”

“It’s an angry cat that can and will eat us if it catches us! Go faster!”

“Why don’t you try running in a gown?!” Triss spat, struggling with the layers of her deep blue gown.

“This way!” Jefferson pulled Triss to the right, suddenly, and through a small door in the middle of nowhere. Triss was about to snap at him again, how could going through a door in the middle of nowhere, with no walls, stop a cat large enough to eat the both of them?

That was before she noticed they were in an entirely different part of Wonderland. They had been moved from the middle of a terrifying forest more colorful than a young child’s imagination to a town square that was just as colorful. After all of this color Triss was longing for the dull gray of the shore during a storm.

“Fuck,” Jefferson cursed as he waited for Triss to catch her breath, “What in the hell were you thinking?”

“I tripped over my skirt…” Triss defended as she fixed her gown, “One of them, anyway. Bluebeard always insisted I wear these heavy gowns, probably so I couldn't escape as he carved me alive.”

“That’s what did it? That stupid…that’s it, come on,” Jefferson sighed angrily, it could almost count as a growl, as he pulled Triss towards one of the many shops in the square, “Get something, anything that won’t end up getting us killed.”

“Gladly, but if you had just picked the door instead of letting me pick this horrid world we wouldn’t be in this position in the first place,” Triss snapped before stepping farther into the shop and leaving Jefferson by the front door, but he heard her mutter as she left, “I fucking hate Wonderland.”

 

Jefferson shared Triss’s distaste for Wonderland long before he became the Red Queen’s hatter. Things weren’t always easy when it came to Triss, but Jefferson would be the first to admit that things were never easy when it came to him. Still, those hard times were more than worth it, and part of the reason he loved Triss. There was a fire inside her that never seemed to go out, and it was that same fire that caused her to sacrifice herself in the end. That was what made watching her struggle so difficult to watch, he knew she would never give up but she must have felt so…helpless and alone, something she had always hated. There was hope, a woman named Emma arrived in the small town, and unlike every other visitor she had stayed.

She was the one that would break the curse, she was the one that would give Jefferson back his wife and little girl. She had to…she had to…

Because he was beginning to give up hope, and without that what little was left of his mind would surely slip away.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Triss leaves the last remnants of her old life behind, save for a locket, while she helps Emma begin a new life in Storybrooke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know my description of Triss's robe probably isn't that great. For those of you who have seen 'Legend of the Seeker' you'll probably recognize it. For those of you who haven't, here's a link.  
> https://www.pinterest.com/pin/570409109024951041/

# Chapter Four

Triss pulled the first thing she could find that would seem maneuverable. It wasn’t nearly as modest as the gowns she had grown up wearing, but she wasn’t nearly the same girl anymore. The black pants hung low on her hips and fit her thin hourglass form snugly. The black top was thin and form fitting, the neck was wide enough that it fell below her shoulders and showed a fair amount of her bust. The light brown, suede boots rose to her knees, they were light weight, and most importantly they had no heel. She covered herself with a hooded white robe that flowed freely to the ground, the sleeves fitting down to her elbows before falling loose and free past her knees. She left the hood of her robe down and the robe hung open enough that it showed what was revealed of her bust.

Triss left the heavy gown behind in the shop, along with most of the jewelry, only taking a locket her grandmother had given her as a child. She found Jefferson leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed and his hat tipped forward to cover his eyes-much like she had found him on her brother’s ship. He was an attractive man; tall, dark, and handsome, and spirits did he look good in those leather layers, those mischievous blue eyes, and that messy dark hair all made him swoon-worthy. His lithe form was clearly fit, if sprinting from the Bandersnatch had taught her anything other than ‘fluffy does not always mean friendly.’

Still, finding the man physically attractive didn’t mean he wasn’t irritating as hell. That sly, confident smirk drove her insane, he had a smart comment for everything-which was absolutely nothing like when she had a smart comment because at least hers were actually smart whereas he was just an ass.

Jefferson knew exactly who had the nerve to snatch his hat off of his head, the blond bimbo that almost got them killed. She probably wasn’t really a bimbo, being a lady and all, but he was still irked about having to drag her ass through the Tiger Lily Forest on a mad dash from a man-eating cat. She was a beautiful woman, when he first saw her he had hoped he’d be able to earn her gratitude for saving her, he’d never played the knight in shining armor before and that’s how it worked. Now he knew better. There was a reason he was a scoundrel, damsel’s in distress were a massive pain in the ass, even if they had a pretty fantastic ass.

He looked up and froze. Little Lady Triss didn’t look so much like a little lady anymore. If only he could look underneath the robe and see just how tight shirt she was wearing was and how low her newfound pants hung on her hips. She was in the middle of pinning her hair up in a messy bun, but a few strands fell down against that long, pale neck.

Just like that he was willing to play the knight in shining armor for the gratitude of the beautiful damsel in distress. Maybe he could get her to wear his hat-

Not the best thought process to be going down at the moment.

“Do you ever take anything seriously?” Triss questioned.

“Nothing comes to mind…” Jefferson replied casually, only fueling Triss’s frustration. Her pink lips turned up in an angry pout before slapping the top hat back on the hatter’s head and leaving with a, “He’s paying.”

Jefferson’s smirk turned down into a scowl. He knew he would be, he couldn’t exactly expect the Lady to carry money in her corset or under those obnoxious layers of her gown, but the way she threw it out there irked him.

“She’s a lovely woman,” the old shop keep said as Jefferson paid the old man.

“Yeah, she is,” Jefferson wasn’t blind, he would willingly admit that much about Triss.

“You’re a very lucky man.”

“You’ve got a strange definition of the word ‘lucky,’” Jefferson retorted as he took his change and left the shop. Triss had her foot up on a bench and she looked to be checking a knife before she tucked it inside her boot before checking another, almost large enough to be a dagger, that she had strapped to her thigh. Just where in the actual hell had she gotten those? If she could keep those hidden in her dress, she couldn’t keep some coin for emergencies? Spirits that woman was, she was…just…

This woman was going to drive him truly and completely mad.

Jefferson wasn’t the only man she drove mad, there were days Graham sorely regretted working with her.

“You need a deputy and she needs a job,” Lily pointed out, her arms crossed just under her chest.

“Regina will have my head,” Graham pointed out, sitting behind his desk as he argued with the blonde. He loved her deeply, he would never love anyone like he loved her, but she could be so damn difficult.

“I’ll deal with Regina, and you’re the Sheriff. You can appoint anyone you want as your deputy. Emma is a no-nonsense tough girl who knows how to fight and outsmart your basic criminal. She’d be perfect.”

“No, you’d be perfect. She just might be worth the trouble.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t go to law school to be a Sheriff’s deputy so it’s either Emma or bust,” Lily pointed out, her hands on her hips as she stood with her back straight in her gray pencil skirt and white blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She tapped the toe of one of her black high-heels against the floor as she waited, watching Graham with those deep, observant green eyes. Lily liked to brag about her daughter, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that, but there was one thing that Graham secretly called bullshit. Paige wasn’t naturally well behaved; no child was naturally well behaved it was part of being a child. She behaved because of the look that Lily was giving him at that very moment. That was a look that even Mayor Mills feared. There was nothing threatening or dangerous about it, in fact there was nothing really emotional about it. The expression was far too calm and flat, as if she had tossed all emotion aside as she calculated what her next, and potentially ruthless, move would be.

And that was a thought more terrifying than the look itself.

Graham sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes, slid his hand down his face, and replied, “I’ll offer her the job but if she doesn’t take it, that’s her decision.”

“That’s all I can ask” Lily smiled, leaning over the desk to kiss the Sheriff deeply. He moaned happily into the kiss, he was trained, he knew. There were days he swore that if she told him to leap off a cliff to his death he would, in fact, do it.

 

“So, where do we find this looking glass?” Triss asked as she slipped her last knife under her belt.

“In the Red Queen’s territory,” Jefferson answered, grimly.

“I take it that’s bad for us.”

“Only if you don’t like getting your head cut off,” Jefferson retorted lightheartedly, his smirk faltering when he saw the emotionless, deadpan expression not only on Triss’s face but in her eyes. He couldn’t tell if she was about to roll her eyes or stab him in the face, and that was concerning…and terrifying.

“It’s this way,” Jefferson said, quickly, before leading Triss out of the small market and back into the forest.

Jefferson grimaced at that particular memory. It wasn’t an unpleasant one, but it brought up a particularly unpleasant memory. He wished he had just died when the Red Queen demanded his head, it would have been a much kinder fate-for all of them.


End file.
